FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Low-scoring Massachusetts got a good look this week at how to get into the end zone.

It came from studying video of Saturday's opponent, high-scoring Northern Illinois.

The No. 21 Huskies are averaging 41.9 points per game. The Minutemen have scored a total of 85 all year as they continue to struggle in their second season of FBS play.

But the Minutemen (1-7, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) had their best offensive game of the season last Saturday, losing 31-30 to Eastern Michigan when they failed on a two-point conversion pass with 22 seconds left.

“We have certainly closed the gap on many of our MAC opponents and we're now playing them to a one-point game,” Massachusetts coach Charley Molnar said. “We have what might be the best team on our schedule in front of us this week, so it has gotten a lot of attention. We tried to close the book on Saturday's game as fast as we could.”

Northern Illinois (8-0, 4-0) should have little trouble improving to 9-0 for the first time since 1965.

The Minutemen “were really struggling offensively to score points and then last week they score 30 points, and really it should have been 32 and gotten the win,” Huskies coach Rod Carey said. “So confidence is an amazing thing for these 18- to 22-year-olds. All of a sudden, you get it and, all of a sudden, you start playing a lot better.”

Massachusetts will need much more than confidence to stop quarterback Jordan Lynch and the Northern Illinois offense. The Huskies gained a season-high 658 yards in last Saturday's 59-20 win over Eastern Michigan

Carey said he expects Cameron Stingily to return at running back for the Huskies after missing one game with turf toe. He's rushed for 726 yards and seven touchdowns in seven games.